Submitted to the QLFC Reserve League 2.0 - Season 1, Round 11: Siblings - Captain - Prompt: Write about pureblood siblings.

MC4A Challenges: FPC; Star; T3; SprBingo; Ship; Scavenger Hunt; Link; Gift Table
Individual Challenges: Small Book (Y); Greatest Gift (N); Rian-Russo Inversion (N); New Fandom Smell (N); Slytherin MC (N); Magical MC (Y); Disabled MC (Y); Small Fry (N); Booger Breath (N); Ship Sails (Y); Zed Era (Y); Medic MC (N); Chef MC (N); Eating Cakes—"Childish Older Sibling" Trope (Y); Two Cakes—Candy Calamity (Y); Aya Bribes You (Y); Beauty of the Abstract (N)
Representations: Astoria Malfoy; Draco Malfoy; Scorpius Malfoy; Daphne Greengrass; Blood Malediction; Persevering through Pain; House-elf; Drawing and Writing
Bonus Challenges: Bechdel Test; Ladylike—Short Hair, Sports Fan; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Odd Feathers; Pear-Shaped; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Demo (Found Family; Spinning Plates; Muck & Slime; Corvid Brain; Queen Bee; Civil Disobedience); Demo (Hot Stuff; Misshapen Pods)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble)
Ship (Team): Draco Malfoy/Astoria Greengrass (Stellar Legends)
List (Prompt): Medium 1 (Acts of Service); Consumables (Tea)
Spring Bingo Space Address: 3C (Green)
Receiver: Aya
Word Count: 5001

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Precious Moments

Astoria had good days and bad days. Today... Today was going to be a bad day.

She awoke to pain behind her eyes, the stabbing pain of a full night's sleep without any rest. She tried to focus on it, to ignore the cornucopia of pain that the rest of her body would present her with as consciousness reclaimed her, but it was futile. Her neck, her back, her joints—everything hurt.

Still, she forced herself to roll over and, when she saw her husband's empty place beside her, to sit up. Draco had wanted her so badly last night, and she had wanted him, though she had known it would cost her. She always forced herself to try to act normally the mornings after they made love, lest Draco should determine that this part of their lives, too, must fall by the wayside. Swearing off large family gatherings had been no great loss, but she could not bear to sacrifice intimacy with her husband. To give up living to preserve her life, a life that had been doomed from the start—that was not a trade she was willing to make.

Astoria dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom, nearly tripping on the lemon drops scattered across the floor where Draco, in his boyish eagerness, had knocked over the tin on her side table. She smiled affectionately, preparing to tease him about it while they showered together, but then saw with a pang of guilt that her husband was already dressed and nearly ready for work. She'd overslept. Again.

She inhaled the sharp scent of his aftershave, and a warm rush of arousal washed over her. For a moment, she was transported back to the early days of their marriage, when she might have torn his shirt off and drawn him back to bed for round two, leaving work to sort itself out. Hiding a sigh, she reached up to tug his collar down over the back of his tie. Her body ached.

"Thank you, my love," said Draco tenderly, turning to pull her into his arms. She leaned into him, giving him more of her weight than she should have. He turned her face up to look at him and kissed her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose. Then at last came the dreaded question: "How are you feeling this morning?"

His tone was casual as always, but his grey eyes betrayed his worry. She could not lie to those eyes, but neither could she tell the truth. "Much as always, my love."

He nodded and let her go. She turned on the tap and picked up her toothbrush. It felt leaden in her hand.

"MUMMY! TAN I DET UP NOW?"

Draco grimaced in the general direction of their son's bedroom. "You know, for the amount we paid for this house, the walls ought to be made of something thicker than paper."

Astoria gave a weak chuckle. "He certainly doesn't need any Amplifying Charm, does he? What time is it?"

"Not time for him to be up yet," Draco replied. "SCORPIUS!"

She flinched at the shout as her son called back, "YES, DADDY?"

"YOU MAY NOT GET UP UNTIL THE LITTLE HAND ON THE CLOCK GETS TO EIGHT. DO YOU HEAR ME?"

"YES, DADDY!"

Their son's room quieted, though Astoria knew from experience that didn't necessarily mean he was obeying. She'd have to check in before heading downstairs to make sure he truly was still in bed.

Draco sighed and shook his head. "Just wait till you've got eight AM potions, little guy," he muttered. "You'll grow out of this early bird rubbish."

Astoria smiled sadly. "Don't hurry him, Draco. He's growing up too fast as it is."

"Oh, I'm not hurrying," her husband replied, taking her by the arms. "I'm not in any hurry at all."

She got the uncomfortable feeling they were no longer talking only about their son. They had never discussed it directly, the uncertainty of just how long she had left, but they both knew it was coming. A year, five years, ten… There was no knowing when, only that it was inevitable, and that every day between now and then was precious. Even the bad ones.

Draco kissed her again, then stepped back. "Well? Will I do?"

"You'll do." Astoria smiled. "Come on, let's go down and eat breakfast together before you go." It was worth pushing through the pain and exhaustion to see the gleam of pleasure in his eyes.

She reached into the pocket of her dressing gown and realised she had left her wand on the side table. All that way to walk back, she thought, stifling a grimace, and was instantly ashamed of herself. She glanced at her husband, hoping he hadn't noticed her weakness, knowing that he had. Disappointment flickered in his eyes for only a second before he hid it away in that ever-growing part of him he'd placed out of her reach.

"Darling, don't worry about breakfast. I'll have Mipsy fix me up something quick on my way out."

"No, no, I'm fine," she protested. "Let me just get my wand and we'll Apparate down."

"I'm not that hungry, truly."

"Don't lie for me, Draco!" Her eyes filled with tears. She was failing. She needed act normally, to reassure him, and she was failing. She dropped a hand to the bathroom counter, suddenly unable to support her full weight.

He caught her up in his arms, murmuring into her hair, "It's all right, Astoria, it's all right. It's okay, my love." He carried her into the bedroom and settled her back under the bedclothes, and like a submissive child, she let him. "Rest," he told her. "At least until Scorpius gets up. I'll owl your sister and have her look in on the two of you."

"I—I'm sorry," she whispered, the tears spilling over. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh. You have nothing to be sorry for. You need to take care of yourself."

"But I'm supposed to be taking care of you!" she burst out in frustration. "You and Scorpius… I'm supposed to be taking care of my family!"

"You do take care of us," he said, lifting her thin hand from the sheets and pressing it to his lips. "In more ways than you know. Please rest, darling. I'll be back tonight."

She nodded helplessly, knowing it was useless to argue. He kissed her one more time, drew out his wand, and Disapparated. Almost at once, she was asleep again.

A high, anxious voice broke in through her slumber: "But Daddy says we mustn't wate Mummy when she's resting 'less it's a 'merjacy!"

"Daddy's quite right, Scorp," a rough voice answered cheerfully. "But Daddy trusts Aunt Daffy to know what she's doing. My, what a mess!"

There was soft skittering sound, as of small candies being kicked across the floor. A moment later Astoria felt a depression in the bed as someone sat on it, and then the sweet brush of a chubby little hand along her arm. She forced her eyes open to see her son staring at her, his big grey eyes dark and serious. She smiled. "Good morning, darling."

"Hi, Mummy. Are you otay?"

Not really. "Yes, dear, Mummy's fine." She turned her gaze to her sister, who was holding Scorpius in her lap. "Morning, Daph."

"Morning, Ria." Daphne looked her over. "You look like you tried to get on the Express and ended up falling down under the wheels."

Astoria gave her a stern look. With her sister's colourful way of putting things, it was unlikely Scorpius had picked up on her meaning, but with children, you never knew. Aloud, she said, "You look like you confused your hairstylist with a pair of hedge trimmers."

"It's Quidditch season, baby!" Daphne whooped. Most of her wispy blonde hair had been chopped off, and what remained was dyed violently green. She threw back her head and gave a shriek that was probably supposed to be the Holyhead Harpies' war cry but sounded a lot more like a deranged crow.

Scorpius immediately scrambled off his aunt's lap, clapping his hands over his ears. Chuckling and wincing, Astoria reached out and wrapped an arm around him. To her sister, she said, "Shut up and make yourself useful, you loony."

"Well, I've been trying," Daphne said, grinning. She reached down and snatched up one of the lemon drops off the floor, then tossed it high up in the air and caught it in her mouth. "I've already fixed Scorp here some breakfast," she continued around the candy, "and now we've come to get you up and see if you want any."

Astoria groaned and sat up with difficulty. "What did you make this time? Wheatgrass pancakes?"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "I told you I'm gluten free. I don't eat wheatgrass."

"How was I supposed to know?" Astoria shrugged. "I wasn't even sure wheatgrass was actually a thing."

"You should know; I've been trying to get you to go gluten free for ages. I really do think it would help with all… this." She looked pointedly at Astoria, who was trying to bend her knees and swing her legs over the side of the bed without sending jolts of pain up through her back.

"You've been spending too much time with your Muggles again," said Astoria.

"Well, it turns out they do know a thing or two sometimes," Daphne retorted. After the Battle of Hogwarts, she had decided to go to some Muggle university to get away from… well, everything. She'd switched courses several times, the most recent being nutrition science or something of that sort, and recently she'd become an endless source of "miracle cures" for Astoria's illness. Astoria had attempted one or two unsuccessfully just to shut her up, but as she'd tried to explain to Daphne time and again, non-magical methods couldn't cure magical diseases. Still, her sister was as stubborn as they come.

Astoria set her feet on the ground and stood, resisting the urge to stick out her tongue at Daphne; that would have been interesting to explain to her son later. This time, she remembered to pick up her wand before heading to the loo.

The pancakes, as it turned out, were rice flour, and no amount of syrup could disguise the fact that they were the exact flavour and texture of cardboard. After a single tasteless bite that stuck in her throat, Astoria pulled out her wand and levitated the entire mess directly into the rubbish bin, shooting Scorpius a mischievous wink. He giggled and tried to wink back, blinking both eyes comically.

Daphne huffed at both of them. "They're not that bad."

"They're exactly that bad. You didn't actually eat this stuff, did you, Scorpius?"

"Of course he did," Daphne cut in. "He likes his Aunt Daffy's cooking, don't you, Scorp?"

"Yes, Aunt Daffy," Scorpius replied obediently. He tried again to wink at his mother, this time blinking while he held one eye open with his thumb and forefinger.

Astoria chuckled, wondering what he'd really done with the pancakes and how much clean-up it was going to involve. "I'll make you a deal, Daph," she said. "I'll quit throwing your gluten free cooking into the rubbish when you make something that doesn't taste like it belongs there."

Daphne leaped up and started for the kitchen. "You're on!"

"Wait, not today!" Astoria called after her, laughing and shaking her head. "Mipsy, where are you? Come save us!"

"Tum save us!" Scorpius echoed gleefully.

"Coming, mistress!"

The squeaky voice came from under the table, and Astoria looked down in astonishment as the house-elf emerged from beneath the cloth. A light brown mess of… something floated in the air just above her long, skinny fingers.

"Mipsy is sorry to startle you, ma'am," she said, inclining her head respectfully. "Mipsy would have cleaned it up sooner, but she only just found it. Master Scorpius was very clever."

She smiled affectionately at the little boy, and Scorpius grinned back at her, already leaning out of his chair to stretch a chubby hand toward her ears. Mipsy quickly moved closer before he could fall out of his seat, and he began to play with her right ear, flapping it back and forth contentedly. It was a habit that went back to his days as an infant, when he'd been so colicky it had seemed nothing would soothe him. The patient house-elf had gently offered to take him, and Astoria, desperate with exhaustion, had finally handed him off to her. Within a few minutes, Scorpius had quieted, one thumb in his mouth and the other tracing along the elf's soft, downy ear. It was that day she'd realised what a godsend Mipsy was.

Looking closer at the brown lumps floating above the elf's hand, Astoria realised that they were, in fact, the remains of Scorpius's pancakes, crumbled into the syrup to make a gooey mess. She didn't want to think about what the underside of the table must have looked like before the elf had found it.

"Scorpius!" she scolded. "Look, you've gone and made more work for Mipsy. Next time Aunt Daffy makes food for you, you put it in the rubbish bin where it belongs."

Daphne gave a cry of mock outrage, and Scorpius giggled. "Yes, Mummy."

"Mipsy doesn't mind, ma'am," the house-elf assured Astoria, snapping her fingers and sending Scorpius's pancakes flying into the rubbish bin with the rest. "See? No harm done."

"No harm done!" Scorpius echoed.

"None except to my pancakes," Daphne grumbled. "That rice flour costs almost a Galleon a bag, you know."

"Money wasted," said Astoria. "Mipsy, would you mind terribly making us some real food?"

"Of course, ma'am!" Mipsy chirped. To Scorpius, she said, "All right, little master, I'm afraid I need my ear back." The little boy's face fell, and Mipsy was quick to placate him by offering to let him come watch her cook. He instantly brightened and slid off his chair to follow her into the kitchen.

"Still using slave labour, I see," said Daphne when they were gone.

Astoria looked at her wearily. "Daphne, we've been over this…"

"Exactly. I've explained it to you every way I can think of, Ria; I can't understand how you can still think it's okay to exploit our fellow beings like this. If you would just look at some of the things Hermione Granger has written for The Quibbler, the sorts of things non-wizard beings are subjected to…"

"Because we don't subject her to those things, Daph, we don't exploit her. I saw to that from the beginning, and it didn't take long for Draco to come around. She's practically one of the family now. I know you don't believe it, Daph, but she truly does love us. Especially Scorpius. And he practically worships the ground she walks on. She's happy here. I can't even imagine how she'd feel if we tried to let her go—"

"But have you tried? Have you actually tried?"

"Well, we've brought it up once or twice…"

"And she said whatever she thought she had to say to please you, because that's what these poor creatures are conditioned to do. You'll never know what she really wants until you give her a set of decent clothes and release her from bondage."

"And what—she's not in bondage, really, Daph, don't use such language—what if we presented her with clothes, and she felt hurt because she thought we weren't satisfied with her? What if she ended up going to another family that didn't treat her half so well? There are so many things to consider…"

"No. There's one thing that needs to be considered—the rights of this being. And then there's your justifications and excuses. That's all."

Astoria sighed and leaned back in her chair, exhausted. She'd never make her sister understand. And in a way, Daphne was right, because the fact was that, whether Mipsy wanted to be there or not, the Malfoys needed her. She, Astoria, needed her. Desperately. She was no longer in any condition to care for her home, for her family, on her own, and while that fact nearly destroyed her, there was no getting around it. Mipsy was vital to the survival of their little family, and the house-elf herself seemed to bear that responsibility with a gentle satisfaction. But that was not something Daphne was ever going to understand.

At that moment, Mipsy trundled into the room with a tray of eggs and bacon balanced neatly on her head, Scorpius in tow. The plate of toast he was carrying tilted dangerously to one side, and Astoria watched him nervously, resisting the urge to levitate the plate to the table before the toast could hit the floor. He looked so proud and excited to be "helping." Discreetly, she aimed her wand tip at the toast, prepared to send out a spell to catch it should it fall.

"Here we are, mistress!" Mipsy chirped, placing the tray down and turning to help Scorpius just in time to avert disaster. Relieved, Astoria set her wand down on the table while Mipsy boosted her son into his chair and then set about laying plates and cups of tea (and, for Scorpius, grape juice). Shyly, she slid a plate in front of Daphne, but Daphne pushed it back toward her.

"Thank you, Mipsy, but I've had enough to eat. Why don't you take the plate and join us yourself?"

Mipsy turned red all the way to her ears. "Thank you, ma'am," she said shortly, "but Mipsy has a great deal of work to do. She doesn't have time to sit down and be idle. Mipsy is sorry that Mistress Greengrass does not care for her cooking."

"No, no!" Daphne protested. "I'm sure you're a wonderful cook, Mipsy. I just don't think it's fair for you to work so hard while we sit around eating in front of you."

"Mipsy doesn't mind, ma'am. Mipsy likes to cook, and she likes to see people enjoy her cooking. Are Mistress Malfoy and Master Scorpius enjoying their breakfast?" She looked at Astoria and Scorpius, who were already digging in with relish.

"Yes, Mipsy, it's delicious," Astoria quickly assured her. "Thank you." After Daphne's rice flour abominations, it was a feast.

"Mistress is most welcome," Mipsy replied with a satisfied nod. She cast another injured glance in Daphne's direction, snapped her fingers, and vanished. A moment later, they heard her humming determinedly from another part of the house.

Astoria gave Daphne a look that said, I told you so, and Daphne replied with a look that said, So what?

Scorpius, however, was munching his bacon and toast in blissful ignorance, and they couldn't continue the argument with him present. As it happened, he was more than capable of polishing off Daphne's breakfast as well as his own, something Astoria noted with chagrin. She'd been mentally trying to prepare herself for him to hit the growth spurt that would deprive her of his chubby little cheeks and legs and hands, but she just couldn't seem to reconcile herself to the knowledge that he wouldn't be her baby for much longer.

"Mummy, tan I det down?" he asked when he had finished. "I want to show Aunt Daffy what Daddy teached me."

Astoria nodded.

Daphne readily took the bait. "What did Daddy teach you, Scorp?"

"I tan't tell you," he said with an exasperated sigh. "I have to show you."

"Well, then show me!" cried Daphne, helping him down from his chair and taking his hand. "Don't keep me in suspense!"

Scorpius dragged her towards the parlour, and Daphne obligingly allowed herself to be dragged. The question, "What's su-pense?" floated back down the hallway as Astoria summoned Mipsy to take care of the dishes. Then, gritting her teeth, she hauled herself up to make the arduous trek after her sister and son.

She found them on the floor of the parlour, papers and crayons spread out all around them. Scorpius was holding a blue crayon in his chubby hand and carefully scratching out the final S in his name. Daphne was watching him closely, her expression the appropriate mixture of excited, shocked, and impressed.

"Loot!" he cried, holding up his completed masterpiece.

"Magnificent!" Daphne said, taking the paper and examining it. "Such carefully formed letters! Such expert penmanship!"

"Don't overdo it, Daph," Astoria said with a chuckle, reaching out to ruffle Scorpius's hair before she settled her aching body onto the sofa. "Draco's still working with him on upper- and lowercase." All of the wobbly blue letters were uppercase with the exception of the I, which had a dot nearly the size of Scorpius's fist. She'd heard this was normal, though since neither she nor Draco had had younger siblings, neither of them knew for sure.

"Well, there's a bit of work left to do," Daphne admitted. "He hasn't learned how to spell his Aunt Daffy's name yet."

Scorpius looked up at her eagerly. "Tan you teach me?"

"Of course! What are aunts for?"

Astoria leaned back and closed her eyes as Daphne selected the green crayon and began to write on Scorpius's paper. ("Green for the Harpies," she told him, though Scorpius was quick to correct her with, "Dreen is for Sly'rin," and she conceded that it was.) Astoria was just beginning to drift off when she heard Daphne say sharply, "No-no, Scorp, you mustn't eat that."

Her eyes flew open and she sat up, every motherly instinct on high alert. She watched as Daphne prised something out of Scorpius's hand. "What is that?" she demanded. Daphne held up a grimy lemon drop between her thumb and forefinger so Astoria could see. Her heart thudded in her chest. The candies were small and oval and just the perfect size to get stuck in a little throat.

"Why tan't I?" Scorpius complained. "You ate one off the floor in Mummy's room, and Mummy eats them all the time."

"Scorpius," Astoria said sternly, "you know Mummy told you it's only a candy for grown-ups. It's not safe for little children."

"I'm not little," Scorpius pouted. "Daddy says I'm detting to be a bid boy. I want to eat tandy."

Astoria sighed and sat back, the rush of adrenaline beginning to fade. "You can have some candy after you eat your supper, but not Mummy's lemon drops."

Scorpius scowled and turned back to his paper. Angrily, he wrote out the letters M, U, M and then struck a line through them. She sighed again. He gets that from your side, Draco. Directly from your father.

"C'mon, Scorp, don't do that to Mummy," said Daphne. "Hey, would you like me to show you how to write Mummy's real name?"

"NO!"

"All right, all right. How about Daddy's real name?"

This seemed to satisfy Scorpius, and he settled down to copy the letters from Daphne, finishing with a triumphant cry of "Drato!" Astoria smiled. It was impossible to stay irritated with her boy for long.

Next, Scorpius decided to draw pictures of them all under their names. He was frustrated to discover that the white crayon would not show up on his paper, insisting that, "Me and Daddy has white hair," but Daphne patiently showed him how to colour in with yellow and then put some white over the top to lighten it. He still wasn't wholly satisfied, but at least he was quiet. Daphne asked to borrow another piece of paper, saying that if Scorpius was not going to draw a picture of his mummy, then she would. The last thing Astoria remembered was hearing her ask for the black crayon to colour in her hair…

"ASTORIA! HELP ME!"

Astoria woke with a start to see Daphne on her knees with Scorpius struggling in her lap. Her son's eyes were wide and panicked. He kept making short jerking motions, as though gasping for breath, but there was no sound.

"What's happening?" Astoria cried, falling to her knees in front of them and sending a shock of pain through her body. Her baby boy reached for her, terrified.

"I don't know!" Tears were streaming down Daphne's cheeks. "He must have had another lemon drop in his pocket! I didn't see him eat it!" She had her arms wrapped around Scorpius's middle and kept thrusting her fist hard against his stomach. With every thrust he tried again to breathe, but nothing seemed to be happening.

"It's supposed to work!" screamed Daphne. "That stupid Muggle first aid class said it would work!"

"ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?" Astoria shrieked, anger and disbelief boiling up inside her as she reached for her wand.

Her wand.

It was still sitting on the dining room table.

It would occur to her later that there had been at least three other options available to her. She could have seized Daphne's wand and attempted to use it, though since it didn't belong to her, she might not have been able to get the precision out of the charm that she needed. She could have slapped her sister across the face to shock her back to her senses and made Daphne perform the charm. Or she could have grabbed Scorpius and had Daphne run to get her wand.

None of those things occurred to her in that moment.

Astoria lurched to her feet, barely noticing the screaming protests of her joints. And then, she ran.

Before she knew it, she was in the dining room, barely having registered how she had gotten there. She saw her wand sitting on the other side of the table and all but threw herself across to reach it. As soon as her fingers closed around the wood, she flung herself off the table and back towards the parlour, stumbling now, her breath coming in jagged gasps.

Her legs dropped from under her when she reached her sister, but it was enough. She cupped her hand around Scorpius's sweaty head and carefully pointed the wand into her son's mouth. His movements were growing feebler; he was about to lose consciousness.

She could scarcely breathe now herself, but she managed to gasp out a single painful word: "Accio!"

There was a moment's strain, and then the tiny obstruction flew out of Scorpius's mouth and hit the wall across the room. Her son drew in a gasp of air—it was the sweetest sound she'd ever heard in her life—and collapsed forward into her arms. She held him, her curls falling forward in a thick black curtain around him, and cried.

Astoria leaned against Draco, letting her husband support most of her weight as they stood together in the doorway of their son's room and watched his chest peacefully rise and fall in his sleep.

A home visit from the family healer had confirmed that Scorpius had suffered no lasting damage. The healer had been more concerned for Astoria, who had blacked out soon after saving her son's life and had taken some time to revive. Between the two of them, Daphne had been nearly frantic, and Draco and the healer had arrived, almost at the same moment, to find Mipsy fully in charge of the situation. After summoning them both, the house-elf had taken Scorpius onto her lap, soothing him even as she chirped instructions at Daphne for how to revive Astoria. The healer had determined at last that both mother and son were fine and had jokingly offered Mipsy a position at St. Mungo's, which the house-elf had graciously but crimsonly declined.

"I just can't believe he's okay," Astoria whispered into Draco's chest.

He squeezed her. "But he is. Because of you."

She shook her head, laughing weakly. "I did it the hard way."

Astoria felt him chuckle. "Maybe." He sobered. "Maybe not. Who knows if that scatterbrained sister of yours could have pulled herself together enough to perform the Summoning Charm?"

"Don't judge her, Draco. She was trying. She just… doesn't always think things through." She laughed again. "Maybe it's a family trait."

Draco stroked her hair. "Well, thought through or not, you saved our son's life. I'm so proud… no, I'm amazed by what you did. I've always known you were strong, my love, but…"

She leaned into him. "No. Not strong. Just… his mother."

"The best mother." He kissed her forehead. "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

She looked up into his face, nearly hidden in the darkness. He wanted her, she could feel it through her dressing gown. And she wanted him, truly she did, though every part of her hurt and she thought if he let go of her she would fall to the ground. Once already today she had found strength she hadn't known she had. Did she have it in her to…?

But his next words surprised her. "Let's sleep in his room tonight. I want to have both of you close to me, to know you're both alive and well and safe."

She nodded wordlessly, her heart too full to speak, and a tear slipped from her eye as he carried her over to their son's bed and laid her beside him. Scorpius stirred lightly, and Astoria scooted him over to make room for Draco. Her husband had to fold his long body to fit into the tiny cot, and the blankets, when he tried to pull them up, barely covered his legs. He only laughed and planted a kiss on her neck.

Astoria had good nights and bad nights. Sometimes she would lie awake for hours, or sometimes she would sleep like the dead and still wake up feeling exhausted. But tonight, with her husband's arms around her and hers around her son, their breathing soft and warm and rhythmic on either side of her, sleep crept over her almost at once, deep and restful. Tonight… Tonight was going to be a good night.